Solitude Park vandals caught on camera

The youths are caught causing 13,000 worth of damage, jumping and swinging on the shelter structure until some of the sections break.

Around ten young people were involved in the incident which took place at 8.30pm on Friday September 3.

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HESE are the shocking images of young teens tearing apart a youth feature in a Banbridge park causing 13,000 worth of damage.

Around ten young people are pictured in council CCTV footage jumping on and swinging from shelters in Solitude Park’s Urban Dance Zone at 8.30pm on Friday September 3.

The shelter was erected earlier this year at a cost of 40,000 with the help of funding from the Northern Ireland Office’s “Exemplar Play and Leisure Facility” Programme.

Two of the four shelters were pulled down by the youths, who vandalised the feature in broad daylight before running off in different directions.

A spokeswoman for the council said it is particularly disappointing that such damage was caused to a feature that had been created especially for young people.

“The irony is that this was a feature created by and for the youth which has now been destroyed by the youth,” said the spokeswoman.

“We consulted with two local youth groups about what they wanted in the park, before going off to get funding and then coming back and working with young people to design and build the feature.”

The Urban Dance Zone was described as a number of shelters and benches surrounding a circular paved dance area. One shelter was fitted with speakers and a Bluetooth device, enabling music stored on a mobile phone to be played aloud.

The spokeswoman said the damage has come at a time when more and more vandalism is happening throughout the district.

“At the end of the day the council has invested considerable funds in the regeneration of the park,” she said. “There has been an increasing trend of anti-social behaviour to play equipment in parks in the area lately and that has to stop.”

Police said they are were following a number of different lines of enquiry but there had been no arrests made at the time of going to print.

Anyone who witnessed the damage or who has any information is asked to contact police at Banbridge on 0845 600 8000. Information can also be passed anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.